Diagnostic and prognostic performances of GALAD score in staging and 1-year mortality of hepatocellular carcinoma: A prospective study

BACKGROUND The GALAD score has improved early hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)detection rate.The role of the GALAD score in staging and predicting tumor characteristics or clinical outcome of HCC remains of particular interest.AIM To determine the diagnostic/prognostic performances of the GALAD score at various phases of initial diagnosis,tumor features,and 1-year mortality of HCC and compare the performance of the GALAD score with those of other serum biomarkers.METHODS This prospective,diagnostic/prognostic study was conducted among patients with newly diagnosed HCC at the liver center of Vajira Hospital.Eligible patients had HCC staging allocation using the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer(BCLC)categorization.Demographics,HCC etiology,and HCC features were recorded.Biomarkers and the GALAD score were obtained at baseline.The performance of the GALAD score and biomarkers were prospectively assessed.RESULTS Exactly 115 individuals were diagnosed with HCC.The GALAD score increased with disease severity.Between BCLC-0/A and BCLC-B/C/D,the GALAD score predicted HCC staging with an area under the curve(AUC)of 0.868(95%CI:0.80–0.93).For identifying the curative HCC,the AUC of GALAD score was significantly higher than that of Alpha-fetoprotein(AFP)(0.753)and Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of AFP-L3(0.706),and as good as that of Protein induced by vitamin K absence-II(PIVKA-II)(0.897).For detecting aggressive features,the GALAD score gave an AUC of 0.839(95%CI:0.75–0.92)and significantly outperformed compared to that of AFP(0.761)and AFP-L3(0.697),with a trend of superiority to that of PIVKA-II(0.772).The performance to predict 1-year mortality of GALAD score(AUC:0.711,95%CI:0.60–0.82)was better than that of AFP(0.541)and as good as that of PIVKA-II(0.736).The optimal cutoff value of GALAD score was≥6.83,with a specificity of 72.63%for exhibiting substantial reduction in the 1-year mortality.CONCLUSION The GALAD model can diagnose HCC at the curative stage,including the characteristic of advanced disease,more than that by AFP and AFP-L3,but not PIVKA-II.The GALAD score can be used to predict the 1-year mortality of HCC.

A Comparative Study of Chinese and Western Culinary Cultures

With the development of international communication,the differences between china and west become more and more obvious.Diet,as an important part of culture,is affected by culture;meanwhile,it reflects the differences among cultures.A diet stands for its nation or race's culture,and the culture influences the diet.This article aims at pointing out the differences and analyzing,finally,finds out the inner relationship in the differences of the two kinds of diet culture.

The Shortest Way to a Nation’s Heart: Culinary Diplomacy Patterns Among Egyptians

Savoring food is capable of triggering tangible and vivid emotional interactions that transcend language and geographical boundaries.Culinary diplomacy represents one of the most enthusiastic instruments of cultural diplomacy.Culinary diplomacy,gastrodiplomacy under certain contexts,is outlined as using food and national cuisine to create multicultural connections,with the aim of improving communication and long-term cultural understanding.Research on Egyptian youth’s acculturation with respect to food attitudes,habits,and environment is very limited.Hence,this study examines the role of culinary diplomacy as a public diplomacy instrument aiming to enhance foreign publics’perceptions.This study analyzes the usage of culinary diplomacy as a means to develop an edible nation-brand,reflected in foreign publics’behavior,perceptions,and consumption patterns.A quantitative survey has been distributed among Egyptians to assess and evaluate their perception,attitude,and behavior towards the use of food as a public diplomacy tool and its tagged symbolic connotations,ideas,values,identities,and behavior.

Influence of Culinary Treatment on Soriz Mineral Elements (Sorghum Oryzoidum)

Soriz (Sorghum oryzoidum) is a relatively new cereal of hybrid origin obtained at the Research Institute for Maize and Sorghum of Moldova. This paper presents and analyzes the results of the study of essential minerals content (K, Na, Ca, P, Mg, Fe) in native and hulled sorghum grains and their changes under the effect of hydrothermal treatment. The results show that the sorghum grains are a good source of essential minerals, especially of K, P and Mg and are less rich in Ca, Na and Fe. The experimental data have demonstrated that the technological process applied to obtain hulled sorghum leads to a considerable decrease in minerals content. Culinary treatment had a greater impact on the K content and lower on P and Mg content. The results will be used to optimize the parameters of raw material processing and culinary treatment with the aim of minimizing the mineral loss as well as for the nutritional value balance of soriz sorghum dishes.

Culinary Delights

米其林是有着悠久历史的法国餐饮行业权威鉴定机构。为世界各地的酒店评定星级。其每年推出的《米其林指南》（LeGuideMichelin）被美食家们奉为至宝。有欧洲的美食《圣经》之称。2010年的《米其林指南》似乎尤其青睐东京的酒店．难道是日本料理有什么独特之处吗？

Construction and Practice of Online Course Resources Based on Information Processing Theory:Taking“A Bite of Teochew Cuisine,”a Guangdong First-Class Course,as an Example

“Cantonese Cuisine Master”project is an important policy proposed by China to inherit Cantonese Cuisine culture,promote employment,and achieve targeted poverty reduction and rural revitalization.Confronted with the demands of more diverse education,it is an essential opportunity and task for the education system to consider how to construct high-quality online courses and pursue higher-quality“Cantonese Cuisine Master”projects in line with the new era.This paper,based on the theory of instructional media and information processing theory,will further clarify the demand,dilemma,and developing strategy of online course construction for culinary majors,and explore its construction and practice with the example of“A Bite of Teochew Cuisine,”a Guangdong first-class course.

Development of a panel of unigene-derived polymorphic EST–SSR markers in lentil using public database information

Lentil(Lens culinaris Medik.), a diploid(2n = 14) with a genome size greater than 4000 Mbp, is an important cool season food legume grown worldwide. The availability of genomic resources is limited in this crop species. The objective of this study was to develop polymorphic markers in lentil using publicly available curated expressed sequence tag information(ESTs). In this study, 9513 ESTs were downloaded from the National Center for Biotechnology Information(NCBI) database to develop unigene-based simple sequence repeat(SSR) markers. The ESTs were assembled into 4053 unigenes and then analyzed to identify 374 SSRs using the MISA microsatellite identification tool. Among the 374 SSRs, 26 compound SSRs were observed.Primer pairs for these SSRs were designed using Primer3 version 1.14. To classify the functional annotation of ESTs and EST–SSRs, BLASTx searches(using E-value 1 × 10-5) against the public UniP rot(http://www.uniprot.org/) and NCBI(http://www.ncbi.nlh.nih.gov/) databases were performed. Further functional annotation was performed using PLAZA(version3.0) comparative genomics and GO annotation was summarized using the Plant GO slim category. Among the synthesized 312 primers, 219 successfully amplified Lens DNA. A diverse panel of 24 Lens genotypes was used to identify polymorphic markers. A polymorphic set of 57 markers successfully discriminated the test genotypes. This set of polymorphic markers with functional annotation data could be used as molecular tools in lentil breeding.

Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of alpha-fetoprotein improves diagnostic accuracy for hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND Diagnostic accuracy of various tumor markers and their combinations for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)was not fully investigated.AIM To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of alpha-fetoprotein(AFP),the Lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of AFP(AFP-L3),and protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-II(PIVKA-II)and their combination for HCC diagnosis.METHODS Patients with newly detected liver mass or elevated serum AFP levels were considered eligible.Serum AFP level,AFP-L3 fraction,and PIVKA-II level were measured at the first visit.RESULTS In total,622 patients were included;355 patients(57.1%)had chronic liver disease,and 208(33.4%)had liver cirrhosis.HCC was diagnosed in 160 patients(25.7%).The area under the receiver operating characteristics curves(AUROCs)of the serum AFP,AFP-L3 fraction,AFP-L3,and PIVKA-II levels for the diagnosis of HCC were 0.775,0.792,0.814,and 0.834,respectively.A novel diagnostic model was developed by classifying patients in a 1:1 ratio into training and validation sets.Using the binary regression analysis of the training cohort,the AFP,AFP-L3 fraction,and PIVKA-II(ALPs)score was calculated as follows:ALPs score=3.8×[serum AFP level(ng/mL)×AFP-L3 fraction(%)×0.01]+0.2×PIVKA-II level(mAU/mL).The AUROC of the ALPs score for diagnosis of HCC was 0.878,significantly higher than that of serum AFP level(P<0.001),AFP-L3 fraction(P<0.001),PIVKA-II level(P=0.036),and AFP-L3 level(P=0.006).The optimal ALPs score cut-off was 5.3(sensitivity,85.0%,specificity 80.1%).The validation cohort showed similar results.CONCLUSION The ALPs score calculated using serum AFP level,AFP-L3 fraction,and PIVKA-II level showed improved accuracy in HCC diagnosis.

The Impact of Hydrothermal Treatments on Technological Properties of Whole Grains and Soriz (<i>Sorghum oryzoidum</i>) Groats

Cereals and cereal products are the basic element in ensuring the food security of the population. Most cereal-based foods contain gluten. Nutritional therapy is the only treatment for people with gluten-related disorders. No gluten-free products are manufactured in the Republic of Moldova, and the imported ones are sold at very high prices. In this context, Moldova is an unexplored field and research is required. The paper investigated the impact of hydrothermal treatments on whole grains and sorghum groats. It was found that whole grains and sorghum groats have a cooking time of about 130 and 40 minutes, respectively, which can be reduced by about 2 times by prior hydration in water. Hydration media and their concentrations (NaCl solutions;sol. NaHCO3 and C6H8O7 concentrations 0.5%;1.0% and 2.0%) differently influence the cooking time, mass, volume and firmness of the grains.

Alpha-fetoprotein,protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-Ⅱ,lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of alpha-fetoprotein alone and in combination for early detection of hepatocellular carcinoma from nonalcoholic fatty liver disease:A multicenter analysis

Background:Current surveillance strategies for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC)among patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD)are insufficient.This study aimed to investigate the diagnostic perfor-mance of alpha-fetoprotein(AFP),protein induced by vitamin K absence or antagonist-Ⅱ(PIVKA-Ⅱ),lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of AFP(AFP-L3),and their combinations in HCC underlying NAFLD patients.Methods:Serologic AFP,AFP-L3,and PIVKA-Ⅱ levels in NAFLD patients with and without HCC were mea-sured.By receiver operating characteristic(ROC)analyses,the area under the curve(AUC),sensitivity,and specificity were obtained to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of each biomarker and their combinations.Results:This study was conducted on 139 patients with NAFLD-HCC and 345 NAFLD controls.The eleva-tion of these three biomarkers was observed in patients with NAFLD-HCC compared to those in NAFLD controls(all P<0.001).When they were analyzed individually,PIVKA-Ⅱ showed the best performance in diagnosing any-stage HCC with an AUC of 0.869,followed by AFP(0.763;vs.PIVKA-Ⅱ,P<0.001)and AFP-L3(0.689;vs.PIVKA-II,P<0.001).When they were analyzed in combination,AFP+PIVKA-Ⅱ yielded the highest AUC(0.906),followed by AFP+PIVKA-II+AFP-L3(0.904;vs.AFP+PIVKA-Ⅱ,P=0.086),PIVKA-Ⅱ+AFP-L3(0.881;vs.AFP+PIVKA-II,P<0.001),and AFP+AFP-L3(0.759;vs.AFP+PIVKA-II,P<0.001).Similar findings were obtained in the subgroup with early-stage NAFLD-HCC,as well as the non-cirrhotic subgroup.Conclusions:These data validated the better diagnostic ability of PIVKA-II than AFP or AFP-L3 alone for diagnosing any-stage HCC among patients with NAFLD,and the combination of AFP+PIVKA-II signifi-cantly improved the diagnostic accuracy of NAFLD-HCC.

The Role of Cooking for Hospital Food Service in Cancer Care-Units: Nutrition Is a Supportive Care While Cooking Appears to Be a Prescription

Cancer cachexia and treatment-induced side effects can contribute to deterioration in nutritional status in patients declining the quality of life and survival rates. Culinary practices may provide new strategies to minimize the symptoms. NEODIA (learning to live with a cancer on a day-to-day basis) is an observational program whose objective is to better understand the occurrence of treatment-related side effects as well as culinary and dietary habits in cancer patients followed in the Cancer Unit of the Beauvais City Hospital, France. First study step in 2010 has investigated culinary solutions to improve the quality of life of the patient at home. The present part tries in particular to answer the question if the culinary advising is transposable to the offer of restoration proposed by institutions of care in oncology. We first conducted an investigation on the determinants of quality of life in patients currently treated in a hospital service involving 41 people. In a second step, we are collecting information on the food supply itself, using advising of some patient’s specially prepared to test meals as a translational research expertise. The results of our survey show that patient’s remarks constitute real guidelines to adapt the practices in culinary production and healthy catering management. Based on these results, the consistency of frozen prepared meals has been analyzed regarding their potential to regulate the under nutrition-inducing treatment-related side effects. Conducted by the patient’s panel of the translational research group the study highlights the benefits of agro-food products and margins of progress.

Semiotic Modes in Local Gastronomic Discourse:A Comparative Analysis of Culinary Shop Signs in Greece and Cyprus

The paper aims to provide insights into the use of semiotic modes used in the shop signs of culinary businesses in Greece and Cyprus.In this context,we examine,comparatively,culinary shop signs collected from the commercial centre of Thessaloniki and Limassol,two European Mediterranean cities with a significant gastronomic tradition and a lively city centre.These semiotic modes are represented in a sample composed of shop signs whose verbal message constitutes verbo-cultural palimpsest or is written in a local dialect,as well as of shop signs that focus on their iconic visual message using intersemiotic translation or visual rhetoric to make their message appealing to consumers.The main conclusion is that the shop signs under scrutiny seem to be addressed mainly to the native people of the two countries who are considered in the common cultural practice much better consumers than tourists as concerns their culinary habits.The study also provides evidence of creative use of culinary shop signs in both cities.Intracultural interpretation,as well as the design of the verbal element,seem to make shop signs more appealing for the consumers.

Masters of Chinese Culinary Art at Four Seasons Restaurant in Minzu Hotel

Chief chef of Four Seasons—Ping Baoguo Ping Baoguo,chief chef of Four Seasons Restaurant in Minzu Hotel,Beijing is a national treasure in theculinary line.He has been working for

The Number of Positive Tumor Marker Status Is Beneficial for the Selection of Therapeutic Modalities in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatic resection (HR) and radiofrequency ablation (RFA) are popular local therapies for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Alpha-fetoprotein,Lens culinaris agglutininreactive fraction of alpha-fetoprotein,and des-c-carboxy prothrombin are well-known and useful tumor markers for HCC.The positive number status of these tumor markers has recently been demonstrated as beneficial for predicting outcome for HCC patients treated with local therapy.Although the normal ranges reported have differed by institution,the positivity of tumor markers is consistent and can easily be assessed.Kumamoto and Wakayama's group clearly demonstrated the following:1) Regardless of the degree of tumor stage,a triple-positive tumor marker profile can predict poor outcome in HCC patients undergoing HR;2) For RFA alone,HCC patients with double-and triple-positive status,having less than three lesions and lesions ≤3 cm in diameter show comparably insufficient outcomes;3) For HCC patients with lesions ≤5 cm in Child-Pugh grade A,HR is preferred over RFA;4) Microvascular invasion rates increased even in the double-positive patients,while poorly differentiated HCC was frequently observed only in the triple-positive patients;and 5) RFA with chemoembolization,anatomical liver resection,and postoperative adjuvant chemoembolization or hepatic arterial chemotherapy might improve the outcome for patients with highly malignant HCC with multiple positive tumor markers.However,the impacts of these therapies still need to be evaluated in prospective comparative studies.

Validation of novel Japanese indication criteria and biomarkers among living donor liver transplantation recipients with hepatocellular carcinoma - a single center retrospective study

Aim:To validate a novel Japanese indication criteria for liver transplantation(LT)for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC),i.e.,the 5-5-500 criteria(nodule size≤5 cm in diameter,nodule number≤5,and alfa-fetoprotein(AFP)value≤500 ng/mL)and the Japanese double eligibility criteria(DEC)(patients meeting the Milan or the 5-5-500 criteria)in the University of Tokyo cohort.The usefulness of biomarkers in predicting the recurrence of HCC was also verified.Methods:The overall survival and recurrence rates of patients meeting the Milan,5-5-500,and the Japanese DEC were compared among 153 patients who underwent living donor LT(LDLT)between 1996 and 2019.A receiver-operating characteristics curve analysis was conducted to evaluate the usefulness of AFP,lens culinaris agglutinin-reactive fraction of AFP,des-gamma-carboxy prothrombin,neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio,and the platelet-lymphocyte ratio to detect recurrence.Results:The 5-year recurrence rate for all patients,those meeting the Japanese DEC,5-5-500 criteria,and the Milan criteria was 10.9%,9.2%,7.4%,and 7.6%,respectively.Compared with the conventional Milan criteria,the 5-5-500 criteria and the Japanese DEC could increase the number of eligible LDLT candidates by 6.1%and 11.4%.Among five biomarkers,the area under the curve value of AFP was the highest(0.852).Conclusion:The results suggest that the 5-5-500 criteria and the Japanese DEC are the appropriate selection criteria for patients with HCC in LDLT.Among five biomarkers investigated,AFP was most reliable to predict HCC recurrence,which justified the utilization of AFP in the 5-5-500 criteria and the Japanese DEC.

Distribution of α-D-mannose residues on zona pellucida and their role(s) in fertilization in pigs

The present study aims to identify the distribution of α-D-mannose residues on zona pellucida (ZP) and their role(s) in fertilization in pigs. In experiment 1, in vitro matured pig oocytes were freed from cu- mulus cells and treated with fluorescein isothiocyanate-labelled Lens culinaris (FITC-LCA), a D-mannose specific binding lectin. After 30 min of treatment, LCA bound evenly throughout the ZP with strong fluorescence. In experiment 2, when LCA-treated oocytes were used for in vitro fertilization, the number of sperm bound to ZP was significantly decreased, and sperm penetration was almost com- pletely blocked. In experiment 3, polysaccharide mannan was added to the in vitro fertilization medium as a competitive inhibitor. Both the number of sperm bound to ZP and the rate of fertilized oocytes were significantly reduced in the mannan-treated group compared with the control group. In experiment 4, spermatozoa were incubated with mannan in vitro. The number of acrosome-reacted spermatozoa was evidently increased in a time-dependent manner during the incubation. These results suggest that α-D-mannose residues presenting on pig ZP might be an important component of sperm receptor and might induce sperm acrosome reaction and thus facilitate the sperm penetration into the ZP.

Expert consensus on the role of hematological markers in the earlyclinical screening of hepatocellular carcinoma

The disease burden of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in China is heavy, and the prognosis is stillunfavourable. Therefore, early screening of high-risk groups of HCC through simple methods is the key toachieving early diagnosis and treatment and improving survival. At present, alpha-fetoprotein and otherhematological tests are still the main methods in the early screening of HCC, but the sensitivity andspecificity are limited, and the risk of missed diagnosis is high. In recent years, with the continuousdevelopment of science and technology, the improvement of traditional detection methods and theemergence of novel markers such as methylated deoxyribonucleic acid and microRNA have brought hopefor further improving the sensitivity and specificity of early HCC screening. This consensus summarizesthe research progress of traditional and new hematological test methods and puts forward expertguidance on the role of hematological markers in the early screening of HCC to provide a basis forimproving the prevention and control level in China.

atriarchy as a social construct:a gastro-semiotic criticism of the foodspheres in J.P.Clark’s The Wives’Revolt

The broad theoretical underpinning of this paper is that food is a vital part of the second-order signifying modes in literary texts.Its definite thesis,in relation to the age-long debates on power dichotomy between male and female gender,is that while men merely enjoy and noisily exercise social power sustained by patriarchy,which is a contrivance,women possess a great deal of authentic powers usually not overtly acknowledged.These theoretical and ideological(thesis)statements respectively are demonstrated through a semiotic reading and analysis of four foodspheres in J.P.Clark’s The Wives’Revolt,using the critical lenses of gastro-criticism,social semiotics and textual cooperation theory.Through these analytical lenses,the paper recognises that each of the foodspheres in this play is a hypertext which transcodes or interogates the diverse gendered power relation hypotexts embodied in religious,socio-cultural and institutional semiospheres.It concludes that the power that women exercise in food preparation and administration,as signified in some of the foodspheres analysed,is a semiotic prototype of the many other unnoticed powers,through which the female homo rule the world.